Unfortunately, a lot of multi-tools, including those for bicycles, have locking folding-blades which can cause legal problems. I have the Topeak Alien II bicycle multi-tool with a locking folding-blade which I take with me on longer bicycle rides. I have recently become uncomfortable carrying this even though the tool is at the bottom of my bag, and even though it takes MUCH effort to lock the blade into its open (active) position.

In order to avoid any legal issues, I was able to dismantle the tool and, through a grinder, removed the ridge on the blade so that it was no longer lockable in the open position. After reassembly of the tool, I now have a non-locking folding blade on the Topeak Alien II. In use, the blade stays in place much like a traditional slip-joint on a penknife so that it is still practicable.

On a related pointed, it would be really awesome if manufacturers can sell us all the individual tools separately so that we can then build-up our own customised multi-tool. I predict a huge market for this!

Well, I am getting rather fed-up with how the Google Search home page insists, on a frequent basis, that I should install Google Chrome, or that I should undertake some kind of security check. And this is despite me telling Google many, many times “No!”. Google knows who I am as I am logged-in on Google, and it should respect my first choices.

Please, Google, stop with your nagging. I don’t want your web browser, stop trying to push it down my throat; I just want to do some search.

I recently treated myself to a Silva Expedition 15TDCL compass (this is from the genuine Swedish Silva company and not a cheap version from the American Silva company).

My new Silva Expedition 15TD-CL compass.

The 15TDCL is a quality mirror spotting compass with magnetic declination adjustment and, as a bonus, incorporates a clinomoter (which I probably won’t use).

OK, I have plenty of electronic gadgets such as GPS units, smart phones and expedition watches which can show me location and/or direction. But I do sometimes miss the feel of paper maps and a traditional magnetic compass. This compass isn’t something I needed, but it was something I wanted. It makes a nice backup too in case the electronics stop working :)

I have said, and will continue to state, that religion deserves no special privilege, and that it is a right for everyone to criticise religion, to mock it. Those who deny others this right deserve no respect.

Don’t forget the Hebdo victims. Don’t forget the monsters that carried out the massacre. Don’t forget those support the massacre. Don’t forget those that refuse to condemn the massacre.

But Salman Rushdie, a former PEN president who lived in hiding for years after a fatwa in response to his novel “The Satanic Verses,” said the issues were perfectly clear. Mr. Ondaatje and Mr. Carey were old friends of his, he said, but they are “horribly wrong.”

“If PEN as a free speech organization can’t defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organization is not worth the name,” Mr. Rushdie said. “What I would say to both Peter and Michael and the others is, I hope nobody ever comes after them.”

I love how certain universities make available a number of free resources such as lectures. One resource, in particular, that I’ve really enjoyed has been Yale University’s “Introduction to the Old Testament” by Christine Hayes. There are many hours of video material from this introductory course, and I would recommend that these are augmented through further personal research.

The course description:

This course examines the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) as an expression of the religious life and thought of ancient Israel, and a foundational document of Western civilization. A wide range of methodologies, including source criticism and the historical-critical school, tradition criticism, redaction criticism, and literary and canonical approaches are applied to the study and interpretation of the Bible. Special emphasis is placed on the Bible against the backdrop of its historical and cultural setting in the Ancient Near East.

Christine Hayes is the Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and one of the foremost American academics focusing on talmudic-midrashic studies and Classical Judaica. She is also a specialist in the History and Literature of Judaism in Late Antiquity. Before her appointment at Yale, she served as the Assistant Professor of Hebrew Studies, Department of Near Eastern Studies, at Princeton University from 1993 to 1996. She has published several books and numerous articles in American and international academic journals, and has received academic accolades. Her class on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) was selected for the pilot program of “Yale University Open Courses,” and has subsequently been one of the most watched online courses about Classical Judaica.